Top Story

(RNS) An 84-year-old nun was sentenced to nearly three years in prison on Tuesday (Feb. 18) for breaking into a Tennessee nuclear facility in July 2012.
Sister Megan Rice and two other anti-nuclear activists were convicted last May of breaking into a federal comp...
More
|
Comments (0)

Top Story

Eds: A version of this story originally appeared in USA Today. It is available for use by RNS subscribers. Please use the USA Today byline.
(RNS) The family of a little girl in western Virginia has removed her from her school after administrators said she did not ap...
More
|
Comments (0)

Top Story

(RNS) So here we go again. It's that time of year _ Lent, when many Christians give something up. Often it's food, although my mom told me when I was a kid that giving up vegetables doesn't count.
A few years ago, as we approached Lent, a few of my friends (who d...
More
|
Comments (0)

Top Story

WASHINGTON (RNS) Most Americans who file income tax returns won't be affected by proposed changes in how charitable contributions are deducted, but that hasn't stopped charitable groups from lobbying Congress to fight any change in deductions as part of the "fiscal cl...
More
|
Comments (0)

Multimedia at a Glance

In This Section

Headlines

Top Story

Adelle Banks, Religion News Service's production editor and national reporter, visited the Rejoice School of Ballet, a faith-based nonprofit in Nashville, Tenn., during a November multimedia boot camp with the Freedom Forum's Diversity Institute. Video by Adelle Bank...
More
|
Comments (0)

Blogs »
Omid Safi - What Would Muhammad Do?

This ain’t working: Time for a revamped model of humanitarian intervention

I am not a political scientist, an political pundit, or even an activist.
I am just a parent who loves his kids, and realizes that other parents around the world love their kids as much as I love mine.

Like many people, I watch the news with a mixture of an aching heart and a searching mind, praying for a solution to so many of the ills that we see around us in the world.

I have been watching for months now the atrocities in Syria, the massacres, and the bloody atrocities of the dictator Bashar al-Assad. Tens of thousands have been killed, children everyday are being slaughtered. Civilians are being shelled by their own government. And we sit here helpless.

We need a different system. The current system of our world community is not working. We have a dictator who is massacring his own citizens, and the world community sits by idly.

The problem is that there are two entities that possess the power to intervene: the United States and the United Nations. Neither is able to do what needs to be done at an effective humanitarian level.

The United Nations is a well-intentioned though flawed institutions. The world community votes again and again on behalf of many human rights issues, but the United Nations lacks the capacity to intervene in a humanitarian way. Adding injury to insult, the very structure of the permanent members of the Security Council reflects the power structure of a post-WWII world, and is in need of urgent remedying.

As for the United States, where to start. Perhaps the most generous way is to state that we are in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. If we do not intervene (or intervene too late), we are critiqued for our lack of concern for human rights. When we do intervene, we are seen as a meddling imperial superpower.

The truth of the matter, however, is far more murky than the above generous view would suggest. Time and time again, we have intervened because their was oil involved, or geopolitical interests, or the interest of our ally.

It is time. It is time to revamp the United Nations and empower it (which is to say, us, the human community) to intervene whenever, and wherever human lives are in danger. The UN should be inspired not by geopolitical interests, or oil, but simply because of the sacredness of all human lives involved.

For the massacres in Syria that are ongoing, these interventions needed to happen 6 months ago.

Comments

A sad reflection of the values of the “leaders” of nations around the world when human life is seen as a commodity to use or dispense with at will.

Daryush
|
Jun 20, 2012
|
4:17pm

Ride on Dr. Safi. However I think if a meaningful change is to take place within United Nations, it will and must give more voice to all NATIONS, and not just the ones with nuclear bomb. This is unlikely in the near future. I can not recall the last time that power and dominance has sided with human rights and welfare of all people. I certainly hope someday all Nations will have a meaningful in the United Nations.

DWC
|
Jun 23, 2012
|
7:09am

If you are a reader of the Holy Scriptures you will find the answers in prophecy of Daniel ! If you are not a reader but a believer of Divine intervention it will come as a destruction of all these Governments and False religious leaders. Jehovah will not allow the planet and creation to suffer under these Satanic influences. Keep knocking and enter the narrow way to life by prayer for God’s Kingdom…Santify the name of God.( Jehovah in English) and humbly ask for help in understanding. The key that unlocks the prophetic word is holy spririt. Not degree’s in theory…or humanitarianism..nor social welfare. It cannot be done without Divine intervention. Like the fall of Jerusalem ...watch for the signals..the surrounding of the city by an unholy disgusting thing as mentioned in Daniel…standing where it out not be! The Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem a holy place. God has given them up for destruction( unfaithful Jews) He again will signal loyal envoys of the Kingdom message. When Jehovah said to listen to His Son Jesus( english ) he meant it! Those that reject his means for salvation will be destroyed! Hence acting now to support the Messiah before the Great and Fear inspiring Day of Jehovah will mean escape ..
Angels are powerful creatures. They are intelligent also! Able to lead and protect!
The blood of the many victims of the world politics will have to be accounted for! The many bloody deaths at the hands of religion and politics will cease only when Jehovah forces the battle at Gog of Magog. Satanic forces will not and cannot prevail!

DWC
|
Jun 23, 2012
|
7:20am

You are so right….the UN nor the League of Nations work! Just a puppet for Satan to dance on the world stage. Never on time…always late after millions are dead or crippled!
The lack of heart is obvious. The heart of this wild beast is mechanical and ugly!
For a complete look at the history and politics from a prophetic point of view Read the Book Revelation It’s Grand Climax At Hand. It will pull the mask of the Rulers of the world and show the face of the enemy! A very challenging book for students of Religious Study. After 20 years I still find it an awesome source of detailed modern day history with Scriptural insight! A MUST READ!

Omid Safi is a Professor of Islamic Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in contemporary Islamic thought and classical Islam. An award-winning teacher and speaker, his most recent book, "Memories of Muhammad," looks at the biography and legacy of the Prophet Muhammad.
View Author Profile